Legend of Zelda: Partners in Twilight
by The Pyromancer
Summary: After the events of Twilight Princess, Midna was stopped in her attempt to destroy the Mirror of Twilight by Link and Zelda. Now Midna and Link travel together to face their next great challenge, meeting the villagers of Ordon village as Link's Fiancee. A light-hearted story about love and family.


**Disclaimer:** I don't own Legend of Zelda, any of it.

 **Please read and review, your feedback helps me to write better stories.**

 **Legend of Zelda: Partners in Twilight**

"Hey! Link! Come out and play with us!" came the cry at a higher frequency than was appreciated so early in the morning. Midna groaned as she pulled the covers further over her in a futile attempt to block out the sound. Sadly, either her sense of time was messed up or the kid was being really impatient this morning. "Come on! It's so boring out here!"

Midna felt the covers shift around her as Link threw off the covers and got out of bed. Link padded silently but quickly across the room and down the stairs of his home. Midna thought she heard a deep intake of breath as the kid, Talo, prepared to yell for Link again. He was cut off as Midna heard the front door open and Link presumably stepped outside. He spoke quietly but Midna's hearing was better than a Hylian's and she could still hear it as Link asked Talo to keep it down and promised that he would be along shortly after he dealt with some things.

"See you later then Link!" yelled Talo happily as he ran off somewhere. The front door closed quietly and Midna heard Link coming back up the stairs. As she laid in bed she realized that it was too late for her to manage to fall asleep again so she might as well just get up and start her day. She sat up in bed as Link re-entered the bedroom.

"Sorry about that," he apologized. "Talo just gets more and more energetic each day. He wants me to teach him and Collin how to fight with a sword."

"Its fine," assured Midna. As much as she wanted to make a snarky comment she knew that the kid had gone through a lot and was entitled to being energetic. She'd also been through a lot over the past several months and had some truly horrible mornings, days, and nights, which put everything else into perspective pretty well. "Isn't Collin's father a trained swordsman?"

"Yes, Rusl's the one who trained me to start, but Talo is impatient and set on learning from me," replied Link, starting to strip and change for the day. Link wasn't very tall, Midna was taller than him after all, but then again, she was taller than most Hylians. He wasn't heavily muscled either, but he was very fit. Work as a ranch hand, then fighting monsters, and now again as a ranch hand had made sure of it.

Midna stood up and went over to the chest that kept her possessions and reached in a hand, rummaging around for a pair of clothes for the day. She put on a simple pair of leather pants that went down slightly past her knees and a simple white sleeveless shirt, the style in Ordon Province or so she'd been told. She'd been given the clothes shortly after she'd arrived in town, and after apparently scandalizing the populace with her Twili attire of a black hooded cloak and hip cloth. Something about showing too much skin and leg she guessed. The new clothes had appeared on Link's door step one morning and no one had admitted to making them, although the satisfied smiles on the face of the women in town hinted that at least one of them had done so and hadn't wanted to admit it for one reason or another.

Once they were dressed they headed downstairs and Midna started the cooking fire with a simple flame spell while Link prepared the food. Breakfasts at Link's weren't exactly the most extravagant, but they were definitely filling, a habit he'd probably picked up from needing to do early mornings and long days. Today it was porridge, simple, warm, filling and bland, like usual. The meal was made better with some sugar and cut up apples thrown directly into the mix. It had been quite a while since Midna had had a good Twili style breakfast which included various soups around which meals were generally based. While they had been traveling she'd actually been rather pleased with the stews and wild game they'd eaten as it had been closer to what she was used to, but she was aware that in Ordon Province the staple foods were different, so she could deal with it for a few more days.

It was almost time…just a few more days before she truly headed home. She was homesick definitely, and was looking forward to returning, but she was also worried. She'd finished up her diplomatic mission with Zelda quickly and now she just had one last piece of business to attend to.

Midna looked up at Link who was humming while cleaning out their bowls and studied him. He was acting so calm, so normal, what were his thoughts on the fact that soon he'd be leaving Hyrule to live in the Realm of Twilight as her husband? She hadn't informed anyone back home that was what her last piece of business was to be and her advisors and subjects would be caught by surprise by a Hylian in their midst. Link knew though and supported her and her plans, just like he had during their mission to stop Zant and Ganondorf. Well, except for that one time she'd planned to destroy the Mirror of Twilight so that their two worlds would be separated and not have to worry about threats from either coming through again. Link and Zelda had figured out what she was doing though and had stopped her machinations, finally convincing her that while she had good intentions, there were other solutions to the problem. What had followed had been a long planning session between the three in one of the unused halls of the sages. The sages themselves had occasionally provided advice and with that council they'd come to agreement on a course of action.

Midna had headed home briefly to get things in motion there while Zelda had prepared things back in Hyrule. Link had left the Master sword in the keeping of the sages and joined Midna in the Realm of Twilight, pretending to be her wolf familiar. After she'd sorted out her business back home, which had taken several long days of meetings and discussions, she'd headed back to Hyrule. Together her and Link had headed to Hyrule Castle from the desert via one of her portals to work out some more details with Zelda. This had included witnessing her coronation, which had been put on hold while she had worked to get her own kingdom back on track. Then there had been more meetings and she'd introduced herself as a dignitary from the Realm of Twilight. The Hylian advisors and castle staff had been scared of her at first but with the support of their Queen and the Hero who wielded the legendary Master Sword and had saved their kingdom, people's doubts had disappeared fairly quickly.

After a week at the castle Midna had sent several missives back to the Twilight Realm via magic and then started the final leg of her mission. The first step had been returning the Master Sword to its resting place in the Temple of Time. Now that Link's quest was over he didn't need the blade anymore, instead getting a new blade as a gift from Zelda and a tattoo engraved on his back that used both the powers of light and twilight. This would allow him to keep human form in the Realm of Twilight when he went to live there. Next, they had teleported to Ordon Forest and walked up to the gates of his village hand in hand. She'd been to the village before, but that had been as Link's shadow in her Imp form, pretending to be riding a demon wolf. The looks of joy on the people's faces on seeing Link had quickly turned to confusion. She didn't really blame the people, with her blue skin etched with runes, her fiery red hair and strange clothes she'd probably reminded the simple villagers of the monsters that had recently captured their children and made everyone's lives miserable. She understood the response, but it still annoyed her a lot.

Luckily the awkward silence had been broken by Ilia of all people. The young woman had waltzed right up to Link with a smile on her face, greeted both him and Midna and asked Link to introduce his "friend" to everyone. Link had replied with a grateful smile and immediately introduced Midna as his fiancée, the person who had saved his life countless times on his journey to save the children, and lastly as a Queen from a foreign land. Hearing that she'd helped rescue the children had endeared her to everyone, and mentioning she was a Queen had done a good job of impressing them. In their overfriendly way the villagers had rushed the two into town, sat them down in the Mayor's house and declared a party to celebrate their return and engagement.

During one point in the night Ilia had pulled her over to congratulate her privately and to thank her for helping Link rescue the children, even if she didn't know what that help had included. Midna had made a joke about winning Link from her but had been surprised by Ilia's response. The blonde haired young woman had laughed at her, a hearty, amused laugh that had drawn strange glances from the people around them. Ilia had gone on to explain that she was Link's best friend and saw him as an older brother, nothing more. Midna had been surprised to find that she actually believed the young woman and even more surprised when she found herself honestly inquiring if Ilia had someone she did like.

"Not yet," the young woman had replied wistfully. "But maybe one day I'll travel out into the world and find her."

lia smiled, winked at her and walked away to get some food. Midna was dragged into a group that included Link, Rusl, his wife Uli and Mayor Bo. They'd teased Link endlessly about his engagement and started to tell Midna story after story about Link as a child, causing her to smile wickedly while Link turned bright red next to her. The party had gone late into the night and left Midna weary but strangely happy.

The next day was spent combing through Link's home and sorting out all of his possessions; what he'd take with him, what he'd get rid of, and what would be given over to the other villagers. Mayor Bo came to help and so had Ilia and the work had been less boring because of that. The Mayor had convinced them that they'd need to stay a few more days to sort some final things out, the transfer of ownership and some other documents that needed to be signed. This had included giving his horse Epona to Ilia, who had apparently cared for the horse even more than Link had, even if the horse had preferred Link to her. Plus Mayor Bo had mentioned that the ranch had had trouble with just one worker and that it might be useful if Link could help a few more days while a new ranch hand was trained. When Link had inquired who would be taking the job, Ilia had stepped forward proudly.

"I'll be taking over your job, my father finally caved in," she'd said with a smile.

"Do you know what you need to do?" asked Link.

"Not really," admitted Ilia. "I've helped out a bit but never really done the job before."

"That's why I'd like it if you could stay to train her, to start at least," pleaded Bo.

"You don't have to stay too long if you can't," said Ilia hurriedly. "Just if you could teach me the basics. I'm already the best rider in the village besides you and know how to properly take care of Epona, so it's more just the other parts of the job."

"Midna?" Link had asked, turning to her. She knew he didn't need to rush to leave his home for any reason besides her whims and needs. She didn't want to stay away from her kingdom too long, but she also didn't want to return without Link. She decided that the tradeoff of time was worth it.

"We can stay for three days, would that be fine?" said Midna.

"That should be plenty of time!" said Bo happily. Ilia and Link had also smiled gratefully at her and for the first time in a long time she felt like she was actually part of a family.

Link's lessons with Ilia had extended past the ranch, which she had quickly gotten the hang of. When he wasn't training her at the ranch or playing with the kid's, he'd taken over training her how to fight with a sword and how to use a bow. These lessons were separate from those of the kids, done at a time when they were home eating and couldn't interrupt the lessons. Midna occasionally went to watch and was impressed with Link's instruction and Ilia's willingness to learn, even if she was pretty hopeless to start. She'd thrown in her own observations and tips which had been accepted gratefully and seemed to have done quite a bit of good.

When she wasn't watching Link train Ilia Midna alternated her time between finishing up with Link's home, reading, and sending missives to the Twilight Realm and assisting around the village. It had happened on accident at first but Uli had asked her to help briefly and it had spiraled into helping her everywhere around the town and lending assistance to everyone. Midna found that she actually enjoyed the work and it kept her busy. Plus with her skill in magic, tasks were much easier and went much quicker. They were also more impressive, and earned her the appreciation and awe of the villagers and their children.

While helping Uli carry some wood Midna had been approached by Mayor Bo, a scroll in hand.

"Good day ladies," greeted Bo cheerfully. "How are you doing today Uli?"

"Very well thank you," replied Uli. "Do you have something you need me for?"

"No, I actually have something to show Midna here, and Link, once Talo fetches him," replied Bo. He shook his head and smiled ruefully. "That boy has way too much energy, one day I'll figure out how to harness it for a productive use."

"He is still a child," pointed out Uli with a smile. "And a much more responsible one after his recent adventure. They all are, it's amazing really. Collin seems to have befriended Renaldo's daughter back in Kakariko and sent a few letters back and forth with her. I've even heard that Beth has been sending letters of her own to Zora's Domain, and getting some back from there. And Malo…well that kid was always an entrepreneur at heart…"

"What did you have to show me?" asked Midna, putting the wood down on the pilled and wiping her hands on her pants.

"Well, it's-" started Bo before he was interrupted by a shout.

"I've got him!" yelled Talo, running up to Bo with a broad smile on his face. Link followed him, a large smile on his face.

"That you do, thank you very much," said Bo, a rueful smile on his face. Uli just giggled slightly at the Mayor's discomfort from being interrupted.

"No problem!" yelled Talo. He ran off to go do something else, waving goodbye to Link. "I'll see you later Link!"

"Have fun," said Link, waving after him. Link turned to Uli. "Good day ma'am."

"Good day Link," said Uli with a smile. "How are things going at the ranch?"

"They're going well. Ilia's finally starting to get the hang of things," said Link. He winced slightly at some memory. "Although while she can ride Epona well, dealing with the goats at the same time is another story. There's lots of falling and unmovable goats involved."

"Never thought I'd see the day…" mused Bo, lost in recollections about his daughter.

Midna coughed loudly into her hand to get his attention again. "What was it you wanted to show us?"

"Oh right!" said Bo, finally remembering what he had originally called them for. He held up the scroll in his hand and unrolled it slightly to reveal several words.

"'Family tree'?," read Uli out loud. "Who's family tree?"

"Link's!" exclaimed Bo happily. "One of the mayor's jobs is to keep records and to update the old ones. I keep the family trees of all the members of the village, like how I updated yours the other month when your daughter was born. I hadn't seen Link's in a long time though, so it took a while to find. I finally found it though!"

"How far does it go back?" asked Link, sounding curious.

"Several generations, before your family actually settled in Ordon," replied Bo. "We make sure when new people move into town to get copies of their family history for the records if possible or to investigate. Really I think it's more of just a hobby bored old mayors tend to adopt."

"So, why'd you go looking for this thing?" asked Midna, curious to learn more about Link and his family.

"Because he's getting married, so that means it needs to be updated," explained Bo. "Also so that I can transcribe a copy so that you can take it with you. I wanted to actually make the copy before I showed you this, so I could just hand it over."

"Why would Link want a copy?" asked Uli.

"Well," said Bo, scratching the back of his head bashfully. "I figured that since he's going to live in another country with a Queen, it would be good to show people where he and his family are from. There's some prestigious people on here actually. Might make a good first impression."

"I doubt any of my people will recognize the names on the parchment, but I appreciate the thought," said Midna gratefully. "Can we look it over here?"

"Sure, why not," said Link with a broad smile.

"Why don't you come on in to my house and read it at the table, it'll be more comfortable," offered Uli. Midna could tell that the woman was also curious to see Link's family history.

"If you're okay with it," said Link politely.

"I am, now come on in," said Uli. "You going to join us Mayor?"

"Naw, I have a few things I need to tend to," replied Bo. "Plus, I've already seen it while I was copying it. If a name confuses you, you can ask me later though, I've done research into all of them."

"Thank you for this," said Link, gripping Bo's hand tightly and shaking it, a grateful smile on his face.

"No problem, you've done so much for me, Ilia and the whole village, it's a pleasure really." With that Bo walked away and Midna, Uli and Link all retired into Uli's house. Inside Uli's son Collin was watching over his sleeping baby sister. He stood up when he saw them walk in and ran over to greet them.

"Hello Link," he said softly. He then looked at Midna and greeted her more politely. "Hello ma'am."

"Hello Collin," said Link brightly. "How are you doing today?"

"I'm doing good, just watching my sister while Talo runs errands around town," said Collin. "He's challenged me to another sword fight later tonight so I was just practicing my swings earlier."

"That boy doesn't take losing well, does he?" smirked Midna. "What's the score?"

"I've got 7 wins and he has 6," replied Collin. "It's a very close match."

"I'm glad you both are enjoying it, just don't get too carried away," chided Uli. "Now let's all sit down and look this parchment over. Would you two like any tea or snacks?"

"No thank you," replied Midna and Link simultaneously, drawing a smile from Uli and a look of surprise from Collin. Midna and Link just looked at each other and smiled, grabbing the other's hand under the table.

"What's that?" asked Collin, pulling up a chair next to his mother and looking at the parchment as Link rolled it out on the table.

"My family history," said Link. It wasn't just one long piece but three pieces of hide that had been sewn together to allow the extensive family tree to stretch down, notes about each generation scribbled in the margins. The writing actually only went three-fourths of the way down the scroll, terminating in Link's name and a list of his deeds and accomplishments. Next to his name connected by a dark line was Midna's, descriptions of her titles and deeds written next to her name. Link smiled when he saw it. "Bo's been busy it seems."

"Where did he learn all of this?" asked Midna, scanning over the rather detailed writing about her and Link. "I don't remember telling him all of this."

"I've told him some," admitted Link. "And from how this section is phrased I'd guess he asked Ilia. During our training and sparing she's been asking me all about you. I guess she was really just a spy for her father."

"That minx," growled Midna, fighting back an amused smile and trying to sound serious. It wasn't working. "Well, at least it seems like either you only said good things about me or Ilia or Bo know a bit about tactful editing."

"I only ever have good things to say about you," said Link. "Maybe if you actually had a flaw it would be different though."

"Compliments will only get you so far ranch boy," smirked Midna.

"How long has you family been in Ordon?" asked Collin, looking over the parchment.

"Two generations," said Link without needing to look at the parchment. "My grandparents all lived in Castle Town from what I heard, but my parents moved here right before I was born. They died shortly after from a disease that I was luckily spared from."

Midna squeezed Link's hand slightly and he gave her a grateful smile. He scanned over the parchment some more. "Seems like that's the same story as on here."

"What about that bag of bones that taught you how to fight?" asked Midna, remembering that Link had said that the Stalfos was actually his ancestor.

"That would be Link, the Hero of Time," replied Link, moving his finger up a few generations to stop at a name. "My great-great-great grandfather who I was named after."

"You were related to the Hero of Time?" marveled Collin. "That explains so much!"

"Did you say that you got training from a ghost?" asked Uli, making sure she heard right.

"Yep, his spirit came and trained me in how to use a sword," replied Link. "His lessons were tough but saved my life many times. I wish he hadn't felt the need to tackle me as a wolf before each lesson though."

Uli just shook her head in disbelief. "I don't think anything else you say at this point could surprise me anymore."

"Who's this?" asked Midna, pointing to the name next to the Hero of Time's, a dark line showing that they had been married. She couldn't read the runes that made up the name. "It's not written in Hylian, is it?"

"I'm not sure," said Link, studying the runes. "I've never heard anything about her before, most stories just focused on the Hero of Time and his quest, not what happened to him after. I feel like I recognize the runes though, I'm just not sure from where."

"Isn't this Zoran?" asked Collin, drawing surprised looks from the three adults around the table. He turned bright red from all the attention. "When I was helping to take care of Ralis, he taught me a bit of Zoran and how to read it. I remember this word specifically from his lessons though. It's Ruto, one of their ancient Queens for who Ralis is descended and his mother was named for."

They just sat in silence for a few moments studying the family tree intently, trying to make sense of this new information. Uli was just shaking her head in surprise again and Link had a baffled expression on his face. Midna was the first to recover and smirked at Link. "Well, I should have guessed you were descended from a Zora. You're pretty good at holding your breath when you go down on me."

Link turned bright red at that and Uli burst into an uncharacteristic fit of laughter as Collin just sat around confused. "What do you mean by that?" asked Collin.

"She's talking about when I would need to hold my breath during our adventure," supplied Link quickly. "Like going underwater or walking through a fire. She's just using crude language that polite and mature people would never use, understood?"

"Okay," said Collin, shaking his head in acknowledgment. Uli managed to get her laughter in check as Link glared at Midna, although he couldn't seem to decide if he was amused or annoyed at her and his face showed it. Midna just gave a toothy grin.

"So, this means you're descended from a Hero and a Queen?" said Midna.

"Seems so," said Link. "It's news to me. Maybe Rutela knew and that's why she helped us so much?"

"Possibly," replied Midna. "I guess this technically makes you royalty, although not how I would have guessed. What else is written on here?"

They spent several more hours poring over Link's family history, chatting about inconsequential things. Uli would occasionally supply a story about her own family and Midna even told a couple from her own family, which was well documented in the royal library. Rusl came in eventually and joined in, stories needing to be retold for him and explained. Uli went and made dinner, inviting Midna and Link to stay. They agreed to do so and talked late into the night with the family, even past when Collin had fallen asleep, Rusl carrying him gently to his bed.

Eventually Midna and Link bid the two good night and turned in themselves. Usually they would have stayed up late making love, but they knew that they had a long day before them. Waking up early in the morning they finished packing everything up and went to say goodbye to all the villagers. This included lots of hugging, crying, promises to visit eventually and handing over of some items and property. Epona was officially given to Ilia and she also received Link's wooden Ordon shield and the Ordon sword that Rusl had made in what seemed an eternity ago when their quest had started. She was also given Link's house, which was useful since Epona preferred to live on the outskirts of town. She was the one who gave them the tightest hugs and the most sincere well wishes.

With everything dealt with, Link and Midna just grabbed each other's hands, mischievous smiles on their faces. Midna waved to the gathered villagers who expected them to walk away any moment. Boy were they in for a surprise.

"I would like to thank you all for your hospitality these past few days," said Midna, "and give you my promise of assistance if you ever need it. Just whisper into the shadows of sunset for Midna, the Queen of Twilight and I'll do what I can."

As they registered her full title the runes one her body glowed through her clothes and she held her free hand up to the sky. The tattoo on Link's body glowed and a golden triangle appeared on the back of his hand and his forehead. A black and blue portal opened in the sky and sucked in Midna and Link as they relished the surprise on their friend's faces. As Midna was carried hand in hand with Link up into the sky she felt pride that this whole presentation had been his idea. She was getting to be a bad influence and was looking forward to continuing to be one for a long time to come.


End file.
